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Associate Director, Genomics Platform

Palo Alto, CA

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution conducting curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

  • Funding: Arc will fully fund Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
  • Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
  • Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
  • Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration. 

Arc has scaled to nearly 300 people. With $650M+ in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly in the coming years.

About the Position

We are seeking an exceptional scientific leader for the Associate Director of Genomics Platform within the Multiomics Technology Center. You will work cross-functionally across experimental and computational teams from Arc’s Technology Centers and Core Investigator labs, manage a high-performing team of research scientists and associates in your Genomics Platform, lead our efforts in onboarding and scaling up next-generation sequencing technologies for Arc’s large-scale institute initiatives, and serve as a technical expert in genomics technologies across the institute. You will play a central role in enabling large-scale sequencing for Arc’s Virtual Cell Initiative, which aims to create the first AI foundation model that makes accurate predictions of cellular responses to drug perturbations.

The ideal candidate combines deep scientific expertise in advanced sequencing technologies with proven people and project management skills and a track record of delivering large-scale projects under tight deadlines. This role requires a team-oriented mindset focused on delivering high-quality, rapid results to users and collaborators across the Institute.

About You

  • Scientific expert and team leader: You have deep expertise in advanced sequencing technologies and excel at developing high-performing scientific teams through goal execution and mentorship.
  • Service-oriented and user-focused: You love enabling others' success, treat collaborators and users as valued customers, and consistently deliver solutions that exceed expectations.
  • Systems thinker and process optimizer: You naturally think at scale, building efficient workflows and automated processes for large-scale research while balancing scientific rigor with operational demands.
  • Results-driven under pressure: You thrive in fast-paced environments with tight deadlines, excel at prioritization, delivering complex projects on time in high-throughput settings.
  • Collaborative: You enjoy building strong working relationships with users and collaborators, and excel at collaborating with cross-functional teams to achieve collective goals. 
  • Adaptable learner: You stay current with new genomics technologies, demonstrate sound judgment in implementing innovations, can pivot strategies effectively based on organization needs.

In this position you will

  • Manage and professionally develop a fully funded Genomics Platform team of 4 FTEs, provide hands-on guidance and mentorship to scientists and research associates
  • Oversee day-to-day operations of the Genomics Platform in a high-scale production environment
  • Collaborate with cross-functional Technology Center teams (Genome Engineering, Data Infrastructure, Machine Learning, etc.) to enable large-scale, single cell sequencing dataset generation for Virtual Cell Initiative
  • Manage multiple complex projects simultaneously, and ensuring timely execution under tight deadlines
  • Drive initiatives to improve platform operational efficiency and turnaround time, develop and implement continuous improvement strategies
  • Serve as a subject matter expert in genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic sequencing technologies, provide expert consultation and training to Arc users on advanced NGS technologies and the Genomics Platform
  • Stay current with rapidly evolving scientific fields, identify, evaluate and implement new cutting-edge methodologies
  • Attend and present at internal meetings, share project plans and results and ensure cross team alignment
  • Establish and maintain relationships with external vendors and partners to facilitate seamless collaboration

Requirements

  • PhD, MD, or MD/PhD in genomics, molecular biology, biochemistry, or related field
  • 8+ years of relevant experience in academic, biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, with demonstrated success in high-scale production settings
  • 3+ years of people management experience leading and growing scientific teams of 3 or more members
  • Deep expertise in advanced sequencing platforms, particularly single-cell sequencing technologies
  • Extensive knowledge of NGS library preparation workflows and computational aspects of multi-omic profiling
  • Experience implementing process improvements and automation in production settings
  • Proven record of delivering large, complex projects under tight deadlines in fast-paced, high-throughput environments
  • Strong organizational skills and proven record managing multiple concurrent projects and priorities
  • Strong service-oriented mindset with focus on delivering exceptional results to internal and external users
  • Demonstrated ability to provide training and technical consultation to diverse scientific audiences
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
  • Experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships across interdisciplinary teams

The base salary range for this position is $160,000 to $207,500. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.

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